


Pine-ing for your attention

by frostedgoddess



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Miscommunication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 23:26:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8820517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostedgoddess/pseuds/frostedgoddess
Summary: Carlos sells Christmas trees.Jay buys Christmas trees.Jay buys more Christmas trees.What an idiot.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so it's been a whole year but I've been so overwhelmed by the constant stream of kudos that I wanted to write again.  
> In this universe, Maleficent never told Mal to do anything on Auradon and they settled in fine but never met Carlos who was transferred at the same time but never ran into the group.  
> Please read the end notes if this is the first of my fics, as I do have OCs you might be unfamiliar with.  
> Have a lovely Christmas!  
> Not necessarily my best work but I'm warming back up!  
> Also I'm not sorry for any puns.

“Thank you for shopping with us at Qualitree Christmas Trees. We hope you enjoyed _branching out_ this Christmas!” Carlos chirped brightly as Nomu and his impossibly beautiful parents walked out of the store, a small fleet of _waiters?_ following behind with their tree of choice. 

Neither Carlos’ schoolmate or his royal parents acknowledged him.

Carlos’ cheery smile vanished the second the green-glad crew was out of sight.  
Radley almost hit the floor with laughter.  
“Shut up Radley, you know, you’re supposed to say that to your customers too?”  
“Yeah, like I would ever say the word ‘qualitree’, I have some dignity left in me.” Radley retorted, eyes still glittering with mirth at the official company farewell. Carlos decided not to point out the obvious issue with Radley’s protest. 

“You’re lucky we’re friends, because you are the shittiest co-worker on the planet, I’m not splitting my tips with you.” Carlos protested, on principle. He’d split the tips fifty-fifty like every time.

It was later, nearing five, and only a week or so into December. They’d had a slow trickle of customers in and out since their shift started at nine but there wasn’t a sitting area so the two boys had been on their feet for eight hours. Carlos was cranky after hours of screechy toddlers and frantic parents and didn’t have it in him to deal with anyone else.

“Excuse me, are you guys open?” A voice called out from the door, but however warm it was, the masculine timbre only made cold dread pool in Carlos’ veins. Carlos pointed emphatically at his co-worker, Carlos wanted a break and the triple-shot lattes at Mrs Pott's Tea House were calling his name. 

Then an absolutely breath-taking jock with long, dark hair wandered around from behind a cluster of tall pine trees. Carlos promptly choked on nothing at all.  
Radley shot a knowing look at Carlos as every inch of visible skin above his neck went scarlet while he struggled for air.  
Radley took two steps in Adonis’ direction. 

“Hey dude, Radley, can you help me find a tree? Mal is demanding a full Auradon Christmas at my place.”  
Radley, seemed to know the stranger, who had mentioned Mal…maybe this was Mal’s elusive royal boyfriend?  
Carlos’ co-worker winked at Carlos out of the corner of his eye and shook his head. “Sorry, can’t help you, Jay. Swamped.” Radley deadpanned, zero regret in his tone. “But Carly here is our best and brightest!”

With that, Radley left the store. Leaving Carlos alone with tall, dark and handsome.  
“Carly, was it?” Jay said, after watching in disbelief as Carlos’ slacker of a co-worker left for the food court.  
“Carlos, actually. How can I help you spruce up your Christmas?”  
“Tree!” Jay blurted out before stopping, taking a deep breath. “Can I have a Christmas tree?”  
“Sure, any particular size?” Carlos asked, smiling up at Jay because even though he had been in the mood to abandon ship only thirty seconds ago, now he had perked right up.  
“Uh, my dorm is crowded on the…floor region but the ceiling is pretty high.”  
“Dorm?” Carlos inquired lightly, the high ceilings sounding familiar.  
“I know I don’t quite look the part, but I’m at Auradon Prep.”  
“Me too!” Carlos chirped, “How have we not met?”  
“I recently transferred...” Jay said, voice dropping decibels as he spoke.  
“Oh, me too.” Carlos didn’t really want to admit anything about his school record either. There was a moment of awkward silence. 

“So a Christmas tree for your dorm? Even though there is one for each dorm block anyways?” Carlos asked, having had the scent of pine needles crushed under hundreds of teenage feet permeating his ground floor room since November.  
“Yeah, my friend Mal is really into Christmas, she wants to do some private stuff as a group in my room because I have a triple with no bunkmates.” Jay carefully didn’t mention that it was because none of the VKs had families within reaching distance.  
“Wow, so a slim but tallish tree?” Carlos asked. “Any ornaments while you’re here?”  
“Nah, we have those.” Jay smiled at Carlos and his knees almost gave out under his small frame.

~.o0o.~

Over a full half hour later, Carlos and Jay had bonded over their favourite pro Tourney team; the Fantasia Flamingos. Jay’s Christmas tree, chosen by Carlos lay wrapped up so no branches would break next to the counter where they were both leant over discussing the latest game.

“And the backflip in the last quarter?”  
“You liked that huh? You know, I play Tourney myself, actually I’m really good. You should come see a game some time. I could get you the good seats.” Jay offered, leaning almost all the way over the counter to see Carlos close up.  
“That’s very kind, but…uh…dancing is on at the same time as all the tourney games…that’s why I’ve never seen you play. I did try out for the team when I first arrived but I wasn’t picked for the team.” Carlos paused, wondering how much he could trust Jay. “Coach actually told me to try out for band…”  
Jay chuckled but stopped when Carlos flinched, expecting mockery. “Hey, you can’t expect to be a state champion with zero training, and hey, if you’re in our national champion dance team, maybe band was a better guess?”

Carlos knew he could have done better if Coach had let him train, he was agile, could backflip as good as any of the pink and green Flamingos and worked hard. “Yeah, well it is what it is.”  
Radley waltzed back in, holding a tray of Mrs Pott's Tea House takeaway cups. “”Get ‘em while they’re hot!” He called out. 

“A ristretto for my favourite caffeine addict!” Radley chirped, in an uncharacteristically good mood as he gave the small cup to Carlos, who took it with a happy sigh.  
“And Jay, I had a feeling you’d still be lurking around here, I got you the gingerbread Frappuccino with caramel syrup and chocolate chips.” Carlos almost gagged.  
“How on earth can you drink your coffee with all of that sugar interfering?”  
“…And it’s decaf!” Radley added cheerily.

Carlos stared at the coffee as if it had personally insulted him.  
“Well,” Jay began, “I don’t know how you can stomach whatever that is without caramel and chocolate to wash it all down with. And it’s almost six, how do you sleep?”  
“I sleep…” Carlos began indignantly. “Wait, it’s six? We’re supposed to close up!”  
“Oh, I supposed I won’t keep you…” Jay sounded disappointed as he pulled the tree over one shoulder with an impressive display of strength, balancing his ridiculous cold coffee in the other hand with apparent ease.  
Carlos sighed.

“Dude,” commented Radley, fishing for the twenty dollar note at the bottom of the tip jar, “You have it bad.”

~.o0o.~

The next day, Carlos was messing around with the till, trying to make the jackpot sound with the buttons.  
“Hey there short stuff.” Jay said, strolling in.  
“Oh,” Carlos was lost for words, “Hey!” He was so pleased to see Jay that he missed the comment about their height difference. “I’m so re-leafed you came back!”  
Jay smirked at the company line, “I need ornaments for my tree.”  
Carlos’ thick eyebrows met in the middle of his forehead. “You just told me yesterday that you were all set on ornaments…did something happen.”  
Jay looked like a deer in headlights for a second, “Oh yeah, I meant…another tree, my friend Evie asked me to get her a tree, I forgot I had ornaments…”  
Carlos blinked. “Another tree, your friend didn’t even come with you?”  
“Nah, you’ll just have to keep me company!”

“Okay, I’m assuming she shares her dorm room, so she’ll need a smaller tree?”  
“Yeah, nice and small, hey, where’s Radley?”  
“Food court, probably, everyone at all the bakeries know him by name by now.”  
“So, can you believe the Granite City Gargoyles won last night, no way they didn’t cheat!”  
“They almost always get knocked out in the first round of the championships, I have no idea how they beat us 12-3.” Carlos agreed.  
After another hour, Jay left with his tree.

“Hey Carlos,” Radley said as he wandered back in, passing Jay on his way out. “Wanna lose five bucks? I bet Mr MVP is back again tomorrow.”  
Carlos lost his five dollars.

~.o0o.~

It had been two days and Jay had bought trees for two more of his friends. Carlos had tried to tell him he was being taken advantage of, but Jay just brushed it off.  
“Hello Jay, tell me, which one of your slave drivers is cracking the whip today?” Carlos greeted, the tree puns long forgotten.  
“Doug needs a mini tree, seriously, the smallest one you have, my…I mean his room is pretty cramped.”  
“Cool, so how did you go in your semi-final?”  
“I went great, helped line up four goals, and scored the last one. I wish you could have seen it.”  
A tall woman with bright eyes walked up behind Radley who was unashamedly watching the two of them banter back and forth.  
“Can you help me? I’m looking for…”  
“Uh, no? Can’t you see I’m super, duper busy here?”  
“Excuse me Jay, I need to save Radley’s job.” Carlos interrupted.  
Radley sighed deeply, as though pained. “Nah, Carly, I totally got this one, right this way ma’am.” Radley lead the woman away by her elbow, allowing the conversation to continue.

“So, Jay, I’ve been meaning to ask you something…” Carlos asked, hands twisting in his uniform shirt. “You said you were having Christmas day at your dorm because most AKs…I mean students are going home for the holidays.” Carlos looked up hopefully. “Could I maybe come? I’d bring food and I’d be no trouble, I just can’t go home these holidays…too busy…”  
“No!” Jay retaliated quickly. “Wait, what I mean is…”  
Carlos flinched and took several steps backwards. “No, sorry I shouldn’t have thought things were…sorry.”  
“Carlos, wait, you can totally come, I just freaked out a bit because…never mind. Please come? I have no idea how to get a pudding, if you could bring that, I’d be forever in your debt.”  
“Sure.” Carlos agreed, confused as to why Jay had reacted so negatively if he didn’t really mind Carlos coming. “Can I bring chocolate pudding though? I like chocolate more than plums.”  
Jay nodded.

~.o0o.~

On Christmas Eve, Carlos perfected his chocolate pudding recipe he borrowed from Radley, who swore his mother had defended its secrets with her life. “There was a wolf and everything.” Carlos knew the story anyways and forgave Radley’s discrepancies.  
Carlos then realised he had no idea how many people were invited so made another three. Okay, so he just stress baked all day, with a complete lack of school or work to construct a routine, he was just catastrophizing.

What if Jay didn’t want him there. What if his friends were mean. What if someone knew his origins? What if they told Jay?

But despite all his worries, Carlos arrive early to the dorms with his pudding in tow. The area was practically deserted as everyone had left to spend the break with their families. Deserted, but not quiet.  
“No! You have to help me!” Was that Jay?  
“You got yourself in this mess! You can get yourself out!” A high, but surprisingly scary voice called back.  
“Please? He’ll be here any second!”

Carlos hesitated for a few seconds before knocking quickly, deciding after a few seconds to say, “Jay? It’s Carlos? From the store?”  
A string of colourful curses came from the dorm before the door swung open to reveal a rueful looking Jay. “Come in.”  
Carlos took two steps in before he realised that there was hardly any standing space, the room was packed with Christmas trees. 

The one beside the fire was the one Carlos had sold to Jay on the first day they had met. 

The trees for Evie and Mal stood proudly on either side of the bay windows, and the little one for Doug was set on Jay’s beside table. Chad’s and Ben’s supposed trees were pushed up against the far wall. 

“You kept _all_ of the trees?” Carlos said accusatorily, eyes wide as he turned to Jay. They’d become good friends over the past weeks but Carlos had never seen that look of mortification on Jay’s face before. 

The room was quiet enough so Carlos could hear when Jay replied.  
“I…I just wanted to see you.”  
“You spent over three hundred dollars to spend time with me?” Carlos asked, even the idea was completely ludicrous.  
“Well…yeah.” Jay stared down at his dirty sneakers.  
“You could have just asked me out, I would have said yes.”  
“I was trying to lead up to that by asking you to a game, then I’d sit you with the girlfriends and boyfriends of the team and we could go out and…” Jay trailed off, looking a little crushed that his plan had fallen by the wayside.  
“Hey Jay, I have Saturdays off in January, I’m coming to all your tourney games and wearing your varsity jacket.” Carlos announced, taking Jay by the hand.

His cheeks flamed when he realised they had an audience of several people but he held up his Tupperware containers of pudding as recompense and kissed Jay on the cheek when the group of students were successfully distracted.  
“I don’t have to wait until January to see you though? Right?”  
“Nah, I’m supposed to be working this afternoon but my co-worker owes me some favours.”

**Author's Note:**

> Nomu - Son of the characters from Princess and the Frog, his dad's musical talent translated to a love of dance (The name is from Malta as the name of Naveen's country was Maltadonia a mix of Macedonia and Malta)  
> Radley - Son of Red Riding Hood, loves to bake but pretends to hate it. Has a 'weird' fascination with his mother's antagonist's daughter. (Tala - daughter of Big Bad Wolf)  
> Granite City – A French city from the Monster High Franchise, populated entirely by gargoyles. Their sports teams are known for cheating.


End file.
